That's My Boy!
by emerald-wind
Summary: Oh my... Shuichi and Yuki have a baby? HOW THE HECK? ... anyways, hehe, this is my second fic sooo... ;;
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation... Of course I don't. ^_^;;

Chapter 1: That's My Boy!

"I'm home!" A voice echoed. 

Yuki was busily typing the next chapter of his new novel, and unfortunately, forgot the next line the main character was going to say because of the sudden greeting.

"Grrrr..." He grumbled to himself.

The door to his room opened. It was Shuichi, with his big smile and blushed cheeks.

"I thought I told you never to bother me when I'm--" Yuki started, frowning at the gleeful Shu.

"But, but!!!" Shuichi waved his hand. "Something importanttt!!! You have to seeee!!!" He cried.

"What is it now?" Yuki asked irritably, slowly getting up from his chair. 

He walked towards the door, and swung it open, only to drop the cigarette in his mouth. 

"A baby?!" He screamed in disbelief.

And in fact, there was a baby. Shuichi carried it in his arms, looking like a real mother-- sort of... 

"Isn't he cute??? I picked him up at the front door!" Shuichi sang. "I can't believe you didn't even see him! He must've caught a cold!"

"WHAT?!" Yuki screamed. "Get rid of that baby!!! He isn't ours!!!"

"But, I found this note!!! here, here, read it." Shuichi managed to get the note in his breast pocket and handed it to Yuki.

Yuki's cold eyes read the letter, trying to act cool despite him knowing the controversy this event could bring.

Dear Sir/Ma'am:

I'm so sorry. Please take care of my child. I am financially troubled and I doubt that I have the capability of raising a child. I am so sorry for leaving him here like this, but I think that you would be a better parent for him rather than I would...

His name is Cliff, but if you wish to change it, it's alright.

Thanks lots and Bless you for your kindness.

"Damn this..." Yuki swore, "She's leaving her irresponsibility to us?!" 

"Awwww... Isn't he cute?" Shuichi smiled as he watch the baby yawn.

"We can't keep him." Yuki interrupted.

"HUH?!" Shuchi looked up. "but but!!! What will we-"

"Adoption..." 

"No!!! How could you! I'm sure we can handle this, Yuki!!!"

"And who do you think he'd call 'Father'?!" Yuki snarled, "This kid is going to end up really confused if he's going to stay with us. And who knows what stupid things you'd teach him!"

Shuichi pouted. "Yuki!!! How could you just put him up for adoption?! Who knows who could just pick him up, besides, we're pretty well-off! We could just be his 'uncle' if you want."

"Yeah.. as if he'd believe that... Shu... It's an accident waiting to happen."

"What???"

"You know... US! We're leading him to something else! He might think that it's normal for two guys to-"

"But... Yuki!!!"

"That child will go through more trouble than when he's not supposed to..." Yuki coldly stared at Shuichi.

Shuichi looked at the baby with sadness.

"And I thought we could have a perfect little home..." Shu sniffed.

"Tch..." Yuki shut the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night:::

Shuichi couldn't sleep. Yuki was still typing on his laptop. He decided to pay him a visit, despite the argument they had earlier- and that he still hadn't abandoned the little baby. He watched as the baby was in a deep slumber on the bed, protected from falling by numerous pillows. 

He got up and walked to Yuki's room.

Shuichi knocked on the door.

"What?" Yuki angrily shouted from inside the room. 

Shuichi opened the door and walked in. 

"Hey hey, Yuki..." He lovingly hugged Yuki, "What if I work extra and then as soon as I get enough money, we go buy passports and change our names and then go to another country?"

Yuki paused.

"That would help, right? No one would care about us anymore... and we'd have enough money to last till... FOREVER!!!" He smiled widely.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Yuki closed his eyes and removed his glasses. 

"But Cliff is... just too cute!!!" Shuichi whined.

"'Cute' won't help! Soon he'll become a noisy toddler, and before you know it, he'll be on the edge of adolescence and then before you know it, he's a teenager! Don't you know how complicated things get when there's a teenager in the house?! He won't even care about us anymore! He'd even hate us if he could!"

"Yuki..." Shuichi looked sadly.

"I'm not worried about us, Shuichi... That kid doesn't know much about this world. Our atmosphere won't help him at all. It's going to distort his own beliefs!" Yuki glared at Shu.

Shu shot out his sad-puppy-dog-look at Yuki.

"Tomorrow we'll give him to someone else." Yuki avoided looking at Shu by turning to his computer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day::

Yuki walked casually ahead of Shu, who was carrying the baby and was trying his best not to look suspicious.

"You know Shu..." Yuki interrupted, "Dressing up in your mailbox costume won't work..."

"Shhhhh!!!" Shuichi looked around, hoping that no one noticed them.

People gave them a weird look, but they didn't know that it was the famous singer, Shindou Shuichi, who was the hopping mailbox.

The two soon got to the adoption center.

"I'd like to put a child up for adoption." Yuki said at once to a lady behind the desk.

"Ahhh... alright Sir..." She handed out the forms. She thought he looked familiar

"Kindly fill out your name, address, and as well as the child's information and why you're putting him up for adoption..."

"Someone left him at our house." Yuki coldly answered.

The woman was dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, I beg your par-"

"Someone left him at our house!" Yuki cut her off.

"at the front door." Shuichi added.

The woman paused as she looked at the talking mailbox.

"What do I have to do if I know nothing about this kid?" Yuki asked.

"Oh!" The woman stopped staring at the mailbox, "I'm afraid that it will be a longer process, you see, this place is not like a lost and found office where you can just fill out something and then leave... We need as much information about this children as we can gather." She smiled. 

"Hmph... we'll leave then." Yuki said as he turned around and left

"Thank you!" Shuichi shouted.

She left her jaw ajar as she just watched the hopping mailbox follow Yuki.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day two::

Shuichi sang with so much determination that just left K, Hiro, Sakano and Fujisaki smiling from ear to ear. 

"He's lively today. What's up with that new album all of a sudden?" Fujisaki remarked.

"I don't know, but Yuki sure did it." K smiled victoriously.

"It's no doubt that this will be a hit!!!" Sakano clapped.

Hiro chuckled.

The final beat ended the melody, and all clapped as Shuichi walked out of the recording booth.

"Thank you!!! Hahaha!!!" Shuichi bowed then danced, "I'm feeling great today!!!"

"What happened Shu? Something about Yuki?" Hiro smirked.

"Oh! Aha... that reminds me...I uh..." Shuichi stuttered, "I have to... ah... tell you guys something..."

"What is it?" K asked.

"I... uh... Yuki and I... uh... we..."

Everyone looked at Shu with intensity.

"We have a baby."

"....." 

BOOOOMMMM!!!!

"SHUICHI WHAT- DO- YOU- MEAN- YOU----- HAVE ABABYISTHATREALLYPOSSIBLEANDWHATAREYOUTWOPLANNINGTODO

ABOUTITDOYOUKNOWHOWMUCHTHISISGOINGTOAFFECTYOURSTATUS?WHATABOUTME??

WHATABOUTALLOFYOUUUU?!AHHHHH!!! IT'S OVER IT'S OVERRRR!!! WHAT WILL TOHMA SAYYYYY?!?!?!?!?" Sakano screamed as he hurricaned around the room. To say that he was panicking would be an understatement. 

Hiro could only look at his friend, who was smiling nervously.

"What happened Shuichi???" He asked.

"Well, you see..." Shuichi pouted, "I was on my way home and then I saw this little bed at the door step. and then I see this note attached onto the cloth, and then when I uncover it, there's this cute little baby with beady eyes and cute, soft brown hair and then and then... he was just so cute! And then I went to Yuki and he said we have to give him up and then now I don't know what to do and then I have no idea who is going to adopt a baby because the adoption center found my costume weird and they probably thought that I had something to do with it all when in fact I didn't and then----"

"WHOAA!" Hiro interrupted. "Just one minute. Are you telling me that someone just left a baby at your door? Just like that???! What was written on the note?"

Shuichi got the note from his breast pocket and handed it to Hiro. Everyone crowded to see what was written.

"Cliff?" K said in a low tone. 

"Wow..." Fujisaki's eyes widened.

"AHHHHHHhhhhhhh~!!!!" Sakano fell onto the floor. He fainted again.

The others quickly attended to Sakano, who was mumbling,

"a baby... they have a baby... what will they say??? aahhhhhhh~!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiro's phone rang. A small beep echoed as he pressed the "Ok" button.

"Hello?" Hiro said as he held his guitar in his other hand.

"Hiro-kun.."

"Hey Shu."

"Is Sakano alright?"

"Haha, yeah. He's come-to."

"Sorry I had to leave the studio so early. I remembered that Yuki was leaving early today and so I had to take care of Cliff."

"So... Shu, what do you plan to do with Cliff? What did Yuki say?" Hiro interrupted.

They both paused a while.

"I don't know what to do." Shuichi answered. "And Yuki doesn't want him here..." He sniffed. "He says that Cliff will grow up to be a very confused individual."

"I agree to that."

"HIRO!!!"

"Hehe, sorry."

"Really, Hiro... if Tohma finds out about this..."

"And knowing the media..."

"That's exactly why I'm trying to finish the next album. At least I'll have some support for Cliff's things. I had no idea that babies needed so many things..." Shuichi whined once more. 

"Oh... they do... and as they grow, so do their needs."

Shuichi paused for a moment.

"Shu, are you still there?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah... I... I just thought that I'd be ready for this. But it seems that everyone else isn't. Why does it have to be this complicated? Why can't they just leave me alone? Why can't they leave us alone?" Shu sniffled.

"Shu..." Hiro trailed off, "Cliff just needs a real mother, that's all. Yuki and the others, even I, am just worried because... you don't have experience on being... a mother."

"I can try."

"No... It's not that. I can't really explain it but, women really have those distinct characteristics... I'm sorry, Shu..."

Shuichi just sniffled.

Hiro held the phone back as he heard a shrill, baby's cry in the background. 

"Oops, did we wake Cliff up?" He asked.

"No, he's asleep... that was me."

Hiro paused a minute. 

"I have to go now, Hiro. Thanks for listening."

"Sure. Anytime." 

==Beep== 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The upbeat song filled the room as everybody listened to Bad Luck's latest album. They all swung along as the lively beat went on and on... until the finishing beat of the drum.

"Wonderful!" K complimented.

"One song down, eh, Shu?" Fujisaki smiled.

"Yup! Let's finish the next ones as soon as possible!" Shu smiled back.

"Just how many songs have you written so far, Shu?" Sakano asked, his tone with a hint of nervousness.

Shu counted silently as he pointed at his fingers.

"Uhm, there are about nine. And I was able to ask Yuki to help me for the final 10th song." He smiled as he held 10 fingers up.

"Oh, it's good Yuki is helping you out." Hiro smiled. 

Everyone remained silent for a moment. It was obvious that they all felt the tension... that the controversy about Cliff had to be kept hidden until the release of the next album.

"Okay, everybody!" Shuichi suddenly shouted out, "This is no time for being in a SLUMP!!! hahahahahawwww!!!"

::::Meanwhile::::::

Yuki stopped the clickety-clack of his typing for a moment. He turned his head towards the bed, making sure that Cliff was still okay.

As soon as he saw Cliff playing with the stuffed toys, he glanced back at his computer screen.

"Damn it... I have to stop smoking because of this."

An endless clicking resounded in the room, Yuki felt pure inspiration as he continued to write the next chapter of his novel. 

"Then he turned and saw that no one was there--- but suddenly---"

Yuki's thoughts cut off when a sudden cry filled the room. He paused, his mind suddenly blank. He angrily stared at the line that endlessly blinked on the screen.

He turned his head towards Cliff, who was crying with a shrill, deafening pitch. Yuki covered his ears as he walked towards the infant and looked down at him. Cliff continued crying, tears continuously flowing.

"What's wrong with you?!" Yuki said irritably.

Cliff paused for a moment, his wide, tear-stained beady eyes looked up at Yuki.

At that split second, Yuki felt overwhelmed. If it wasn't for the blue eyes and the brown hair, he'd swear that Cliff looked like Shuichi at his most immature moments. Yuki looked at the baby with a slight surprise. 

Cliff then gave off a big smile, then stretched out his small arms towards Yuki. He kicked and tried so much to reach Yuki. Yuki unconsciously bent closer to him. Cliff's smile widened as he played with Yuki's hair. Yuki's irritation had disappeared. He actually smiled.

"You seem to have a good effect on babies..." He heard a familiar voice.

Yuki looked up and saw Tohma at the door of his room, smiling. Yuki smirked.

"Why do you think Shuichi and I get along well?" He sarcastically remarked.

"I didn't know you babysit, Eiri-kun" Tohma answered, walking towards Yuki and Cliff.

"Neither did I." Yuki answered, looking back at Cliff, who was still enjoying the fluffy yellow toy he just discovered.

"Is he a cousin?"

"Not exactly."

"Huh? Did you and Shu-kun--"

"No..."

"I'm confused, Eiri-kun." Tohma smiled, his eyebrows slanting to show his disappointment.

"Don't worry, you don't need to know. His name is Cliff... that's it."

"Oh.. okay. You want a beer? I'll go get it for you... and Eiri-kun..."

"What?"

"We need to talk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's notes: Hiya! The idea suddenly woke me up one night. I know Shu and Yuki having a baby would be the silliest idea... but I found myself saying, "why not?" ehe, let's see how things work out in this fic... my second fic ^_^;; I hope this doesn't turn out bad... ^o^

Say it with meeee: "It's Gravitationnnnn!!! 

feeling hyper... @___@


	2. Daddy's Little Boy

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation... but Cliff is my own character. Thank youuuu! :D

"Bye Hiro! See you tomorrow!" Shuichi shouted as he waved at Hiro. They separated on their way home. 

Shuichi walked faster than usual. He felt strangely nervous- as if something bad had happened. He tried to shrug it off but still, the feeling pestered him. 

He finally reached the door. He placed his hand on it, but it suddenly turned. Shuichi jumped back in surprise.

"Thanks, Eiri-kun!" Tohma said as he walked out of the door, smiling. He stopped as he noticed Shuichi, standing in front of him with his mouth practically reaching the floor.

"Oh, it's you, Shindou-san." Tohma said, smiling once more. 

"Ah, ahah, ahhha... Hello Tohma!" Shuichi waved mechanically.

"I'm so happy to hear that you've volunteered to babysit for your cousin. That's really nice. But make sure that doesn't get in the way of your work, Shindou-san." Tohma tilted his head, still smiling.

"Oh, ohhh, ohhhohohohoo... I won't!" Shuichi smiled like a robot.

"Well then, I'll be seeing you!" Tohma waved and walked away.

As soon as Shuichi lost sight of Tohma's shadow, he panicked and stormed into the house.

"YUKIIIII!!!!!" He screamed as he rushed into Yuki's room.

"SHHHH!!!" Yuki hissed, placing his finger on his mouth. "You'll wake the baby!"

"Ah, ah... ahhh...," Shuichi looked at the slumbering baby, and shook his head, "What did you tell Tohma??? Does he know???!!"

"Calm down... he knows about Cliff... But not everything. Stop panicking." Yuki then continued his typing. 

Shuichi did a dance as he couldn't control the nervousness he felt. "What if- what if---"

Yuki stood up, walked towards the disturbed Shu, and placed his hands on Shu's shoulders. Shuichi just looked up, suddenly forgetting his nervousness.

"Don't worry... I'll take care of it. Just finish your album." Yuki comforted.

"Y-Yuki..." Shu looked up at him. "What did Tohma do to you?! Why are you so nice all of a sudden?"

~~WHAM!~~

Shuichi rubbed his head. "owwww..." 

"Does it have to be so weird whenever I act a little nicer?" Yuki said irritably once again.

"Aa, aaa, aaa... no Yuki!!! It's just..." Shu hugged him back. " It's just that... I wish you were always like this..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_"Stop giving that cold look_

_I know you have something to sayyyyyyy_

_Don't keep it from meeeeee~~!!!_

_Just try me oh yeahhhh!!!_

_hey hey heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"_

Shuichi sang as he they continued their recording. They all watched as Shu sang with even more energy than the other day. As soon as he was done, everybody congratulated him. Shuichi smiled, and gave them all a thumbs-up to show his appreciation.

"Shuichi-kun, you're wonderful! If only you could keep that motivation, hehehe!" Sakano chuckled, more stable by now.

"Only two songs to go, and that includes Yuki's composition." Fujisaki added, "By the way, Shuichi-kun, is that 10th song done yet???"

"I'm still finishing the melody, but... It's halfway done." Shuichi smiled triumphantly.

"I can't believe that we finished this all in just two weeks!" Hiro said, smiling widely.

"Me neither..." Shuichi added, looking a little disappointed.

"What's wrong Shu?" K asked.

"It's just that. I don't know... Yuki has grown more attached to Cliff and now he hasn't even noticed me when I come home. It's just..."

"oh, jealous...?" K smiled.

"Well... I really am happy that Yuki is taking care of him for me... but Yuki never looked so happy... Maybe I AM jealous." Shuchi whined.

"Don't worry, Shu-kun!" Fujisaki patted him on the back. "On the bright side, you can finish the album a lot faster! And you don't have to worry about Cliff."

"ehe, thanks..." Shu smiled.

:::A little later:::

"Okay, it's a wrap-up!" K-san announced.

"Okay Shu, nice work! Let's continue this tomorrow." Hiro smiled.

They all said goodbye as they left for home.

Hiro and Shuichi walked the same path going home. Hiro couldn't help notice Shu's sad expression. 

"Shu, what's up?" Hiro asked.

Shuichi looked up.

"Oh... it's nothing.." He shook his head.

"hmmm... I don' think so..." Hiro said, with a smirk.

"Ahhhh~! Hirooooo!" Shu said in a whiny voice.

"So... it wasn't jealousy, was it? What really happened?"

Shu paused a while.

"Last week..." He started. "When I got to Yuki's apartment, I bumped into Tohma. He was on his way out of Yuki's apartment..."

"Hm?" Hiro looked with a eyebrow raised.

"Ever since then... I don't know... Yuki seemed different."

"How different?"

"He's really nice to Cliff and all but to me..."

"Wha???"

"Once I caught him playing with Cliff. He was smiling. But then when he saw me... he suddenly turned cold. I don't understand. Maybe I'm just wishing that I could make him smile like that. But I never able to do it... it's kind of... sad, really..."

Hiro placed his hand on Shu's shoulder. Shu looked up at his brown-haired friend.

"Maybe Yuki is just getting his fatherly instinct going... but I bet that you can make him smile too. Why don't you just try?"

Shu smiled and nodded. His eyes had determination in them.

"I will..."

The two waved as they separated at the intersection. 

Shuichi jogged faster, suddenly feeling the tinge of nervousness once more-- just like the time he bumped into Tohma. 

He finally reached the front door. He stopped, and stared. 

He was waiting for someone to come out. 

After about 5 minutes, he decided to go in. Shuichi went into his stealth-neko form and began to sneak quietly through the apartment. 

"mmm... I sense dangerrr..." He purred to himself.

He went through the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, the guest room... which left only one room...

"YUKI!!!!" Shuichi screamed as he stormed into Yuki's sanctuary.

He jumped high up, and was falling down, spreading out his arms to Yuki.

Yuki dodged, not even looking up.

::CRRRraaaaAAAASHHHHH!!!!!!!::

Shuichi felt like a pancake. "Yukiiii~..." He groaned, letting Yuki know that he was -still- okay.

In one blink, Shuichi was up again, and holding his fist up to Yuki. 

"YUKI!!!" He screamed in anger. "Why didn't you even say anything?!! Here I am working hard all day to finish the album and then I come home to see that no one's here and it's perfect for me and you and then I try to pounce on you and then what do you do??? You dodge me!!! Do you know how painful that is not only since I hit the floor but my heart is practically bleeding in sorrow and then you just---"

"Shhh..." Yuki placed his index finger on Shu's mouth.

"Y-Yuki..." Shuichi answered, surprised and his cheeks blushing.

"The baby's sleeping..."

Shu's blush of happiness was immediately replaced by a furious expression. 

"What's with the face?" Yuki asked coldly.

Shu suddenly changed to his puppy-dog eyes and started to cry.

"Y-yuki..." he whined, "Don't you even care about me? Why don't you act the same way anymore? I hate to say this but... why do you care more about Cliff?"

"I thought you liked Cliff."

"W-wait..." Shuichi stammered. "What did you say?"

"I thought you liked Cliff." Yuki emotionlessly repeated.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!!!" Shuichi shouted, pointing his finger at Yuki, "It took you months before you called me by my name and then Cliff comes here for just two weeks and you're already calling him by his name?!?!?!?!?"

"That's the purpose of having a name..." Yuki coldly answered once more. "And I thought that you wanted us to have a happy little home..."

"I do!!! It's just... you've been acting different around him." Shuichi sniffed.

"Don't tell me you're jealous." Yuki teased.

"W-wait..." Shuichi paused, suddenly realizing Yuki's statement, "You said... I thought I wanted to have a happy little home... does that mean that you..."

Yuki stared at Shuichi with his golden eyes.

"Does that mean..." Shuichi gulped, "We're keeping him?!"

Yuki paused a bit. He pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth without lighting it.

"If you put it that way..." Yuki closed his eyes, "Yes."

"UHhhhhhhh~!"

::::THUDDDD!!!:::

Shuichi fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Look at me with that golden gaze_

_It sets me on fire_

_my soul's ablaze_

_it's my desirreeeee!!! OhhhhHHHHHH!!!_

Everyone at the studio was silent. There was a heavy feeling all over the studio.

"Wow... Shuichi's really on fire today." Hiro mumbled.

"He's really determined about Cliff."

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAA!!!!!!!" Shuichi yelled as the song neared its finale.

K-san flipped through Shuichi's lyric sheets. He shook his head.

"He made those lines up." He said in a low tone.

"WHAT?!" Fujisaki yelled, suddenly looking up from the table.

"Something's wrong with Shu... and if we don't find out what it is... this album is no longer going to be in the pop genre."

"OhohoOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YEAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Shuichi screamed in a monstrous voice as everybody was thrown against the wall because of the intensity.

"Ughhhh..." Sakano fainted once more.

"Don't tell me... Shu's going to make this a rock genre album..." Hiro asked, leaning against the wall. 

"I think you should ask him, hehehe." K chuckled, his hair completely 'windswept'.

Everybody paused as Shuichi stomped out of the recording studio. He was in his Godzilla costume. Everybody blinked to see if they were seeing right. 

"It's done." Shuichi said in a low tone, pulling up the hood that served as the costume's head. 

"I'm happy about that, Shu..." Sakano wearily said, finally gaining consciousness. A river of tears flowed down from his eyes.

"Not yet!" K-san suddenly interrupted as he held out his pistol and suddenly grabbed and head-locked Shuichi.

"EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!' Shuichi yelped as he tried to pry out of K's hold, "What's wrong with you K?!?!?"

"That's my line," K answered, grinning, "Tell me why you're making Bad Luck a rock band all of a sudden or I'll shoot!!!"

"K-K!!!" Fujisaki cried out nervously. 

"K-san... I-I..." Shuichi stuttered, then started to sniff.

K realized that Shuichi was crying once more; and as much as he was used to that, he suddenly realized that Shu was actually serious this time. He loosened his grip.

"What's wrong, Shu?" Hiro asked, walking towards Shuichi, who bowed his head.

"I-I'm sorry..." Shuichi stammered. 

"About what?" K asked.

"I... realized that... that I don't want Cliff to come in between me and Yuki!"

Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor.

"So what's the connection of that to you acting the way you are now?", Hiro shook his head, " Shu, I thought that you wanted to have a --" 

"I do!!!" Shu cut him off, "I swear I did..." He clenched his fist, "But I can't take it anymore!!! The sooner I finish this album, the sooner I can find a way to find Cliff's mother! I don't care what it takes!..."

"Shu..." Fujisaki looked sadly.

"I understand Yuki now..." Shuichi tried to smile, "This child has no room in our world. He'll get into more trouble than he was supposed to avoid... And I realize that I didn't listen to Yuki. And because of that, I actually lost Yuki to him. I hate this!! I hate it!!! I hate this jealousy! I don't want to think that I'm jealous of that baby but--- but Yuki... Yuki is my world!!! He's mine!!!"

"He sounds like he's fighting over a new toy..." K whispered as he shook his head.

"I don't care anymore! I'm doing my best to finish this album... and as soon as I do, I'm going to end this!" Shuichi whined, his soul burning.

"There, there, Shuichi-kun..." Fujisaki patted him on the back, "I'm sure you and Eiri can work things out."

Shuichi sniffed, and pulled Godzilla hood over his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:::That night:::

"Yuki!!! I'm home!!!" Shu shouted as he entered Yuki's apartment. He was still in his Godzilla costume.

No one answered, as always.

Shuichi walked slowly towards the kitchen, as he heard a familiar voice-- only there was something wrong. He peeped, and saw Cliff seated in a new high chair, laughing hysterically. Shuichi shifted his gaze towards what Cliff was looking at.

He held his mouth as he gasped.

Yuki was laughing! He was cooking a sumptuous meal, and he was laughing as Shu had never seen him before. It was a very hearty laugh, and Yuki laughed so much that Shuichi saw his tonsils.

"Y-Yuki..." Shuichi whispered as he walked into the kitchen.

Cliff and Yuki paused as they looked at the green-costumed Shuichi.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Cliff broke out into tears.

Yuki quickly ran towards him, and lifted him from the chair and cradled him in his arms. Then, he shot out a soul-piercing look at Shuichi, who had no idea what he had done wrong. 

"What's wrong with you, Shuichi?!" Yuki yelled.

"What's... what's wrong with me?!" Shuichi said once more, breaking into tears, "What's wrong... with ME?!" Shuichi screamed as the baby slowly stopped crying.

Shuichi clenched his fist, then turned around and ran out of the kitchen, covering his tear-stained face with his hand. He left the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi walked around town, finally removing the Godzilla costume he was carrying around the whole day- it was starting to smell funny and grabbed more attention that way.

He sniffled. His head was bowed as he dragged his feet. He tried to understand what he saw. It was nice to see Eiri laugh like that for the first time. But he couldn't understand why he was so disappointed. And though he knew the answer to that, he didn't want to accept it.

"I'm jealous?" He mumbled to himself. 

He continued to drift into his thoughts, trying to remember at least one moment when he made Yuki laugh.... but he couldn't remember anything at all. He started to sob once more. 

He decided to stop by a ramen shop, and drown himself in beer.

"What'll it be, sir?" The man asked as Shuichi sat at the counter.

"Just a beer..." Shuichi sadly answered.

"Oh... I'm sorry" The man said, disappointed, "We've run out of beer. The last case was consumed by those guys over there." He pointed to a table.

Shuichi pouted, turned his head towards the table the man pointed. There were a couple of circus clowns happily drinking and toasting.

"Hmph..." He pouted. "So that's why they're always happy."

"There's coffee." The man reassured Shuichi.

"Okay... I'll have that."

:::After 5 cups of coffee:::

"Wow! I feel great!" Shuichi sang happily as he stretched out his arms. "Can I have another cup please?!"

The man looked up drowsily from the counter. "I'm sorry sir, I hate to say this but, the shop was supposed to close 3 hours ago..."

Shuichi paused, he looked up at the wall clock. "2 AM?!" He gasped.

"Thanks!!! Keep the change!!!" Shuichi said as he left a generous amount of money in the hand of the slumbering man. He quickly sped out of the restaurant.

Shuichi ran and ran, letting his feet take him anywhere they could. He felt so strong, so energetic, so great, so---

"Oh... what do we have here?" Shuichi stopped as he heard the voice and saw two, big figures blocking his path.

"A deeply depressed individual who just had too much of a caffeine dosage!!!" Shuichi shot out. The two burly men just stared at him, obviously not understanding what he just said. 

"WHERE THE HECK DID THAT COME FROM?!" Shuichi thought to himself.

"Blah!" One holding a shiny object blurted out, "Looks like someone who can give us a good time, hehehe!"

The way the man smiled gave Shuichi goosebumps.

"Hey... isn't he... Isn't he Shindou Shuichi?!" The other one suddenly shouted.

"WHOA! You mean the singer?!" The other one said in disbelief, then suddenly looked once more at Shuchi with such an intensity that made Shu want to crawl out of his skin.

"Hehe, too bad.. It seems we can't take any chances..." The man with a knife grimaced, slowly inching towards Shuichi. Shuichi walked back, turned around and tried to run, but something pulled him back- the man held on to his collar.

The two chuckled devilishly as Shuichi struggled and yelled, "NO!!!! LET GOOO!!! I'll make K-san kill you!!!" 

But the two didn't listen.

Shuichi felt the knife as it slowly inched towards his neck. He could feel the heavy, and stinky breath of the man. He wanted to escape, but didn't know how. He shut his eyes as he screamed one more time.

"YUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!"

"YAHHHH!!!" He heard someone scream, then he saw a flying trashcan, which hit the man above him at point blank range. The man helplessly toppled, unconscious.

His companion quickly turned around, screaming, "WHAT THE?!" Shuichi felt relieved, but still a bit scared, since he saw no familiar face.

"Who the hell is there?!" The other man shouted, fear evident in his tone. Shuichi could not find himself to get up, he felt paralyzed by the fear as well.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, two red dots appeared, gleaming amidst the darkness.

"I am the goodness that crushes all evillllll!!!" A voice shouted out.

"That voice..." Shuichi mumbled, as he tried to remember whose was the familiar voice he heard.

"What the hell?! GET AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT HIM TO GET HURT!!!" The man tried to threaten, suddenly picking up the knife from his companion's hands. He grabbed on to Shuichi's shirt, and held the knife up his neck. Shuichi gasped, and blinked as he felt a cold feeling rush down his spine.

~~WHAMMMM~!!!

The man suddenly loosened his grip, and Shuichi was shocked to see him falling, apparently hit by something straight on the head.

"KUMAGORO BEAMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!"

"R-Ryu?!" Shuichi gasped, as he saw a familiar figure and heard the familiar voice. It was Ryuichi! His eyes were a glowing red and he was holding kumagoro and hitting the man at point blank range, making him drop unconscious.

Everything was silent once more as the two burly men lay inanimate on the cold street, and Ryu was standing like a comic book superhero, his eyes aglow.

His face suddenly changed as he gave out a cat-like smile and looked at Shuichi He gave out a hearty chuckle.

"Ahahaha! Shu!!! Hello!!!" He waved, smiling with kumagoro in hand.

Shu was dumbfounded, but suddenly woke up as Ryu grabbed his hand and helped him stand.

"Let's go, Shu... before these evil people wake up!" He said in a comical tone, still smiling.

Shuichi didn't know what to say- he was still in shock over what had happened. He unconsciously ran as he felt Ryu's pull, watching Ryu run ahead of him as he followed like a puppet- still in a daze.

Author's note: Thanks so very much for those who reviewed the last chapter!!! Oh, and This chapter has been revised; sorry for all the grammatical errors!!! *bows head in embarrassment* But it's okay now, It's all fixed up!!! *holds a victory pose*. Thanks once againnnnn!!! thanks for the cookie, Dead Insomniac!!! *takes a bite out of a cookie* :3~


	3. Shuichi's Little Helper

Chapter 3: Shuichi's Little Helper

Yuki continued tapping on his computer. The words were flowing right out of him. He knew that it wouldn't take long until he could submit his newly-finished chapter. He felt somewhat relieved that he could accomplish one of his best works, thanks to the silence.

Yuki stared at the screen. The tapping had stopped. He watched the blinking line at the end of an unfinished statement. 

He looked over at his bed, gazing upon the slumbering infant that was amidst all the pillows and the stuffed toys. 

"Shu…" Yuki thought to himself. 

He looked at his desk clock. "3 AM… Where could that idiot be?"

He pushed his chair backward, and stretched his back, diverting his gaze towards the ceiling. He pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth and closed his eyes. 

"Where is he?" He contemplated once more.

Yuki suddenly found himself thinking about Shuichi's outcry earlier that evening. 

"What's the matter with me?!" He heard, as he pictured Shuichi's heart-broken expression. 

"What's the matter with me…" Yuki repeated to himself.

He opened his eyes once more, and gazed at Cliff, who was still in a deep slumber. He got up, and walked towards him, and peered down. His eyes were no longer sharp and cold, but soft and slightly melancholy.  He looked at Cliff with affection. 

"What's the matter with me… can you tell me?" He muttered, the unlightened cigarette following the action of his mouth. 

"Can you?..." Yuki repeated once more, slowly holding the infant's hand. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeh Yeh yehhh!!! GO Shu!!!" Ryuichi cheered as Shuichi glomped down a whole pack of Strawberry pocky.

Shuichi chewed as if there was no tomorrow.  He gulped down, and held up a "v" sign with his fingers. 

Ryuichi held up Kumagoro, controlling the doll's hand to make it look like it was clapping. 

"Kumagoro says you're amazing, Shu!!! Ahahahahaaa!!!"

Shuichi smiled, but slowly drifted into his thoughts again- his sad expression could not be hidden. 

"What's wrong, Shu-san??" Ryu asked in a comical tone, peering over Kumagoro's head.

"It's… it's just that…" Shuichi stammered, his hands shaking.

"Huuuh?" Ryu said in a catty tone, with eyebrows raised.

"It's just that… every time I'm in trouble… You're always there. I feel so happy, Ryu, honest!" Shu said, smiling, then changing back to a sad expression, "But… I wish I could at least do the same for you… I feel… well.. It makes me feel a bit guilty…" Shuichi bowed his head.

"Nah!!!" Ryu said in his childish voice, "Ryu and Shu-kun are best friends!!!" He said triumphantly, making Kumagoro dance.

"Ryu-kun…" Shuichi looked up, sniffing.

"Which reminds me…" Ryu interrupted. "Kumagoro is wondering why Shu-kun was out so late at night!" He said with a puzzled look on his face.

"o-oh!" Shuichi shook his head, "i-it's nothing… Yuki and I… er… I just got a little disappointed, that's all... so I went out for a while and---"

"Hn?" Ryuichi nudged Shu, "You can tell us what's wrong, Shu-kun!" He smiled reassuringly. 

"W-well… I don't know… but…" Shu stammered, clasping his hands.

"It's okay, we can keep a secret!!!" Ryu nodded.

"Oh… okay…" Shu tilted his head, his sadness evident once more. "You see… I thought Yuki and I… well… I thought we could have a new member in our family…"

"Family?" Ryu asked in a childish tone.

"Y-yeah…" Shuichi continued, "Someone new who I really loved came to our family… and I thought that it would be perfect! …but Yuki tried telling me that it was not going to happen. But the strange thing is—one day---" Shuichi paused, looking at Ryu, wondering if he should mention anything about Tohma.

"Hai?" Ryu uttered, his eyebrows raised. (*yes?)

"Well, one day… Yuki didn't act the same to me anymore. And—and I think I'm jealous because the new family member can make Yuki laugh… when I couldn't…" Shuichi tried to fight back the tears. Ryuichi's eyebrows slanted, as he felt sad for Shuichi as well.

"Well…" Shuichi continued, "I thought that I was special… but now someone else seems more special for Yuki… and it just feels terrible to think that Yuki doesn't care about me anymore…"

There was silence all over the room. Shuichi bowed his head, sniffing, and yet still trying to suppress the tears. 

Shuichi felt a pressure on his shoulder, and saw that Ryuichi had his hand on it. He looked up, seeing Ryu no longer in his childish facial expression, and instead, looking like Hiro-- serious. He gazed up at Ryu's soft, amethyst-colored eyes, and his heart-warming smile. 

"R-ryu…" Shuichi said in a soft tone. 

"Shuchi…" Ryuichi said in a serious-yet-sincere tone, as he took his hand off Shuichi's shoulder and knelt down once more. "No one can allow you to be feel bad but you…"

Shuichi could only gaze at Ryu. Seeing the transformation of character was enchanting and at the same time, comforting. 

"I don't know about Yuki… but maybe you just don't know what he's really feeling. He may act that way to someone else, but I'm sure that the one who really matters to him is no one but you... Ne?" Then Ryu suddenly changed back to his childish cat-like smile.

"Ryu-kun…" Shuichi said once more, feeling his tears starting to flow from his eyes. "A-arigatou…" (*thank you.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuki woke up to a loud racket coming from his living room. He realized that he had fallen asleep beside Cliff— kneeling on the floor and his hand still holding onto Cliff's soft hand. He blinked and rubbed his eye, anger was evidently on his face. 

"Shu…" He said in an irritated tone.

He got up, looked at the still slumbering Cliff then opened the door and walked right to the living room. He noticed the wall clock—

"9 AM." He mumbled to himself. "If he thinks making me worry will—"

Yuki stopped in his tracks as he saw a dark-haired man on his couch, watching a video of Bad Luck at ear-piercing volume.

"Tatsuha???" Yuki yelled, looking at his brother with disbelief.

Tatsuha turned his head and waved at his brother, suddenly turning down the volume.

"Hahaha! Heya, Onii-san!! Did I wake you?" He grinned and waved.

Yuki walked towards him, placing his hands in his pockets, "No… I'm sleep-walking." He answered in a cold tone. "What are you doing here?!"

"Oh! Hehehe!" Tatsuha scratched the back of his head, "I just wanted to drop by and see my onii-san! And I was also planning to ask Shuichi if I could borrow that Nittle Grasper video Ryuichi gave him… " Yuki shook his head as he thought he saw a momentary evil sheen in Tatsuha's eyes. 

"That reminds me… Is Shuichi here?" Tatsuha asked.

"No… he's not." Yuki coldly answered. "…And why are you watching Bad Luck videos?"

"Ohohohohoooo~!" Tatsuha giggled in a girlish tone, "Well you see, now that I don't have any videos of Ryu, I thought that Shu was basically very much like him and that he… uh could be… uh, don't get me wrong! He's all yours but---"

"Stop using Shuichi as a stunt double for your erotic fantasies…" Yuki said with an eyebrow raised.

Tatsuha smiled sheepishly.

"Anyways, about Shuichi…What time will he come—"

"I don't know." Yuki interrupted as he shifted his gaze towards the video. 

The soft volume was still audible enough for both of them to hear the words clearly. It was Shuichi's song during that Music Fest…
    
    ORENJI iro tsuki yoru ga kuruto kimi no koto o omoi dasu
    
    kakko tsuketa ore no SERIFU wa hoka no dare kano SERIFU de
    
     *(When an orange-colored moonlit night comes, I think of you,
    
     as though the chic affectations in my words were someone else's words.)
    
    fui ni miageru SHIRUETTO kimi no yokogao o terashita
    
    awai hikari wa ima demo
    
     (*Even now, (I can remember) the pale light
    
     that illuminated your silhouette as you suddenly glanced up (at that night's 
    
     sky).)
    
    nani o matteru kimi wa inai heya
    
    tokei dake ga ashi oto no youni nemurenai mune ni hibiku
    
    ima mo matteru hitori tomatteru
    
    futari mita anohi no tsuki o ima dokode kimi wa miteru
    
     (*What is it I'm waiting for, in this room without you --
    
     it's just the clock's ticking, but it resonates in my sleepless heart like 
    
     the sound of footsteps.
    
     Even now I'm waiting; I stop here alone.
    
     From where do you now see the moon we saw together on that day?)

(*In the Moonlight)

Tatsuha could see that, though his brother tried to hide it, he was really worried about Shuichi. But he didn't bother to tell Yuki—he might end up dying young. 

"Oh yeah, Onii-san… Mika asked me to give this to you." Tatsuha pulled out a slightly crumpled letter envelope from his pocket. "I tried to read it but—"

Yuki shot out a cold look.

"Hey hey! I'm just kidding!" Tatsuha waved his hands, defending himself. 

Yuki didn't hesitate to open it. His golden eyes scanned through the entire content of the letter. Tatsuha could only look up with a slight frown on his face as he watched Yuki's eyes. There was pure silence.

Yuki then put the letter down, blinked slowly, and folded it back. He placed it in his breast pocket. 

Tatsuha blinked, as if awakened from hypnosis. "Hey, Yuki. What did it say???" 

"Nothing…" Yuki said coldly as he turned and walked back towards his room. In the silence, Tatshua heard even the opening of his door- and the continuation of his typing on his laptop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi opened his eyes, and blinked repeatedly as he could only see a pink blur…

His vision cleared and he realized that Kumagoro was right in front of his face.

"EYYYAAAhh!" Shuichi shouted as he immediately sat up. 

"Ohayoooo~!" Ryuichi greeted in a childish way. He giggled as he pulled Kumagoro towards him. (*good morning!)

"Is Shuichi-kun okay now??" He asked cheerfully as a stick of Pocky dangled from his mouth.

"M-mmm…" Shuichi nodded.

"That's good!!! Ryuichi and Kumagoro are glad!!!" Ryuichi chewed on the pocky. 

"How did I end up here?" Shuichi thought to himself. "Oh yeah!!! Last night… Oh… OHHHHHH!!!! Yuki is going to kill me!!!"

"Ryuuu-kunnnnnnn!!!!" Shuichi cried out at the puzzled Ryuichi, "W-what time is it??"

"Hn?? It's 9 AM, Shu-kun!" Ryu nodded reassuringly. 

"OH noooOOOOO!!!!" Shu screamed as he immediately got up and put on his sneakers.

"Shuichi-kun has to go?" Ryu sadly asked, with Kumagoro seemingly wiping his eyes.

"I'm sorry Ryu-kun, but I have to go now. But---"

Shu ran up to Ryuichi, stood in front of him, paused and hugged him. Ryuichi's was surprised for a moment, but then his surprised face melted into a smile.

"Thank you! I owe you so much!!!" Shuichi sincerely smiled.

"Mmmm!" Ryuichi smiled once again, finally swallowing the stick of pocky.

"uhm… I don't know if this means much but…" Shuichi let go of Ryu and dug into his pockets. A clash of sounds emanated as he shuffled through it.

"Hn?" Ryuichi asked as he bit onto another stick of pocky. 

Shuichi finally pulled out something—three lollipops and a rubber duckie.

"Please accept this as a token of my gratitude!!!" Shuichi held up as he suddenly knelt down.

Ryuchi's eyes were misty, and the stick of pocky fell from his mouth as he embraced the items into his own hands. 

"Thank you, Shu-kunnnn!!!" He screamed in delight. 

"I'm glad you like it!" Shuichi smiled, then sped towards the door, "Well then, bye now, Ryu-kun!!! Best friendddd!!!" He waved and went out the door.

Shuichi ran as fast as his feet could take him. He ran through any obstacle.

Traffic was bad down at the intersection, but he found his way through.

"Such insensitive men!" Shuichi mumbled to himself, "How could those guys sleep on the sidewalk like that- with a knife and all?!"

Shuichi's heart raced as he turned around the corner- just a block until Yuki's apartment. He was starting to hear his heartbeat in his ears, and it was now in synch with his racing footsteps. 

He finally got to the familiar apartment, and immediately opened the door. 

"YYYYYUUUUUU-" Shuichi screamed as he entered the house, until he saw someone seated on the living room couch. "KIIiiiiiii…"

Tatsuha turned his head, and in a blink of an eye, was in front of Shuichi, smiling and holding his hands.

"Shuichi-kun!!!" Tatsuha chanted, "You're hommmee!! Hehehe! I was wondering if uh---"

"Tatsuha-kun?" Shuichi asked, still slightly surprised.

"Could I borrow that Nittle Grasper video???" Tatsuha asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Ahhh… Sorry Tatsuha-kun… it's in my house… you know… far away…" Shuichi smiled wearily. 

"Ah." Tatsuha bowed his head, his grip suddenly loosened.

"ehe…" Shuichi smiled nervously.

Their conversation was suddenly cut short as Shuichi saw Yuki walking out from his room, but suddenly detouring towards the kitchen… he didn't even seem to see him. Tatsuha looked at his brother, his eyebrow raised. 

"Y-yuki?" Shuichi said softly.

"Shu…" Tatsuha looked at him with sincerity and smiled, "Since I'm already here— maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea that I treat you to a meal! Let's go!"

Before Shuichi could agree, Tatsuha pulled him towards the door, and they both left the apartment. 

Yuki walked back, carrying a can of beer in his hand. He paused, looking at the living room. A slightly sad expression was on his face, but it disappeared as he returned his stern expression and, as if awakened from a dream, he continued to walk back towards his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tatsuha and Shuichi sat across each other at the restaurant. Tatsuha ate slowly, and tried to chat with Shuichi, as he noticed that Shu didn't touch his food. 

"Hey Shu! Eat up, I'm sure you're hungry."

"Uh… okay…" Shuichi said wearily as he slowly picked up a chunk of beef with his fork, but kept poking the meat at his mouth.

"Uh Shu… you have to open your mouth." Tatsuha said as he felt a sweatdrop forming on his forehead.

"o-oh!" Shuichi said, as if broken from hypnosis once more. He opened his mouth and chewed the chunk of beef slowly. 

"Shuichi…" Tatsuha said with concern. "I don't know what's wrong with you and Yuki… but it's evident that Yuki---"

Shuichi looked up.

"It's obvious that Yuki is slipping away… breaking down… the longer that you're drifting from him. Please, let me know what's wrong. He is, in fact… my brother."

Shuichi looked at Tatsuha, and saw that he was indeed deeply disturbed by the chain of events. He thought one moment, trying to think if he should tell Tatsuha about Cliff… 

"Ah… it doesn't matter anymore." Shuichi thought sadly.

"Shu?" Tatsuha asked, noticing Shuichi lost in his thoughts again.

Shu then nodded, and started to tell Tatsuha... everything.

Tatsuha kept silent… waiting for Shuichi to finish.

::After a while…::

"And so now, I don't know why Yuki's like this just because of Cliff and all…" Shuichi ended his story.

"So…" Tatsuha said, his hands resting upon each other. His gaze was not at Shu—it was through him.

"Tatsuha? Are you okay?"

"You have a baby?... wow."

~~BLAGAAAAGGGGGG!!!~~

The customers looked as they saw a man unconscious on the floor. 

"T-tatsuha!!!" Shuichi screamed.

"Hurry! Get a doctor!!" a waiter shouted as he attended to Tatsuha, who had a fixed smile on his face and eyes in a swirl…

"They have a babyyy…" Tatsuha chuckled.

Author's Note: Thanks very very very much for reviewing the last chapter!!! *wallows in so much delicious food* :3~   Oh, oh! Thank you especially to panatlantic (mmm! Pudding!!! :D), Numero13, tidus2529, noali, Inori-Sakura (aaahhh! Pockyyy!!! :D~), Kawaii Usa, Zaphi (ohmygosh! I'm someone's fave author??? THANKKKSS!!! *bows endlessly like Sakano*, DI (ahhh!! *gulps down smiley cookie* You're my cookie supplier! THANKKKK YOUUU! :3) AND punky girl (best pwen!!! *huggles in chibi form* you ah! you're using our shared account ah! *checks out punky girl if she has new fanfics* ngihihihiiii! :3 *gives strawberry pocky c/o Inori-Sakura)  Thank you soo much!!! Oh, and one more thing---*in K-san's voice*   "It's Gravitation!" 


	4. Don't Cry For Me

Chapter 4: Don't Cry For Me

The sun was a soft yellow, the breeze was slightly cooler and the sky was a cool blue. 

It was a beautiful afternoon.

Shuichi walked slowly, gazing up into the clouds. He was smiling, despite the heavy load Tatsuha was being. He supported Tatsuha by letting his arm rest around his shoulder. Tatsuha walked slowly, still a bit dizzy from the fall-- he had a band-aid on the back of his head. He didn't notice the uneven (sharp) ornament on the floor, which was supposed to be part of the restaurant's confetti. They had just fixed up six-star ornaments in celebration of someone's birthday request. 

"Awwww..." groaned Tatsuha, his head bowed. "I can't believe they used that extra old Blue Cheese as a substitute for smelling salts..."

"...and people actually eat it..." Shuichi mumbled, as he continued to stare up at the sky.

The two continued to take slow steps, they were heading back to Yuki's apartment. Shuichi just tried to contemplate on the beauty of the afternoon-- he didn't want to imagine Yuki's reaction... since Shu hadn't returned since last night. 

"Hey Shu..." Tatsuha interrupted.

"Huh?" Shu looked at him. 

"This baby..."

"Hm?"

"He... I... I think I agree with Yuki... it won't be good if he stayed with you two."

"I wish Yuki thought the same thing." Shuichi pouted.

"You know Shu... oni-san... he's very... weird."

"Yeah...I think I know that already." Shuichi smirked.

"But I mean, I'm his brother and all-- I think I can tell when he's trying to be something he's not..."

"Huh?"

"Shu... just because Yuki is trying to be with Cliff... it doesn't mean he loves you any less. I don't know, but... I think he thought that he needed more peace and quiet. And since you guys are complete opposites... well, sometimes maybe he didn't get what he wanted..."

"Oh..." Shuichi frowned, diverting his gaze to the sidewalk.

"But you know, Shu. I think it's about time that my brother realized how much he needs you. Just seeing him this morning..." Tatsuha trailed off.

"What happened this morning?"

"O-oh!! Nothing..." Tatsuha gave a reassuring smile. "Well then!..."

Tatsuha slid his arm off Shuichi's shoulder,momentarily stumbled, but soon got his footing steady. Shuichi could only gasp at how close Tatsuha could have fallen into the open manhole. 

"Urk..." Tatsuha realized the manhole, "Ah, Shu-chan... this is where I leave you two!"

"Are you sure? Why don't you stay? I-I mean, with your head bleeding and all..."

"Nah!" Tatsuha waved his hand, "I was just supposed to come here for that video! And besides, I doubt that I can sleep peacefully with you two having problems and all!" Tatsuha winked.

Shuichi only watched as Tatsuha slowly walked, leaving him behind at the intersection where they were supposed to take a turn to Yuki's apartment. 

Tatsuha paused, and turned around.

"Oh, and Shu-chan..." He smiled, "If onii-san asks where I went... tell him that I planned to go home and that I'm not coming back unless you two settle things!" He gave out a mischievous smile. 

"Ah-hahaha... Hai..." Shuichi nodded as he smiled, and waved. (*Hai- yes; onii-san- elder brother)

Shuichi then turned left at the intersection and, looking up at the sky, he continued to contemplate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Yuki was driving home. He turned up the music as he momentarily gazed at the chuckling baby. He didn't realize that he softly smiled at the sight.

He made a turn at the left, and then stopped-- traffic was terrible. He shifted his mirror, checking if he can back up... but a car immediately blocked the path behind him.

"Great... We'll be going home late." Yuki mumbled.

Yuki grumbled at the situation he found himself in. What was the cause of this traffic jam?

The car slowly moved, and traffic was becoming smooth once more. Yuki drove the car slowly, trying to see the cause of the ruckus at the side of the road-- he barely saw anything through all the crowd.

"This just in--" The radio suddenly interrupted, "A traffic jam was caused at..."

"Okay... about time they said what was wrong." Yuki mumbled.

"Authorities have now cleared up the area, and claim that the cause of the traffic was a drunken man who got into a brawl... and then fell into the open manhole near the construction area. They have gotten him out but..."

"That's stupid..." Yuki grinned.

"WHO SAID I WAS DRUNK?!" A voice suddenly interrupted in the radio.

"Hey hey sonny, calm down... and come with us quietly" other voices bumped in, as a sound of chains were mixing in.

"Oh my..." the female reporter erred.

"No! what are you doing? don't you see the band aid on my head?! No, NOO!! Let go of meeee!!!"

"Hey hey, quiet down sonny, if you don't want to cause more of a scene!"

"I need medical attentionnnn, my head's bleeding~~ !!!"

"yeah... you do need medical attention, now, now... (a sound of metal chains breaking interrupts) UMPH!!! HEY!!! COME BACK HERE!!!"

~~~BLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP~~

"Ahem..." the reporter continued, "So... uh... there you have it, folks... a deranged, drunken man... and he's on the loose. But not to worry; Police will get to him soon."

"Hmph... that's a relief..." Yuki said sarcastically as he watched a silhouette running and then turning at the next intersection, police cars chasing after him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi tapped his shoes as he sat on the living room couch. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his lap. The waiting seemed like forever.

He glanced at the wall clock.

"7 PM..." What's taking Yuki so long?

Suddenly, the phone rang. Shuichi got up and went to answer it.

"Hello?" he said in a weary voice.

"Shuichi-kun?" he heard a familiar voice at the other line. 

"Ah... I'm sorry, who's this?"

"It's Tohma..."

"Oh... OHHH!!! A-a-ahh... H-hello Tohma!!!" Shuichi stuttered.

"Is Yuki home?" Tohma said in his usual soft voice.

"Uh.. n-no. He hasn't come home yet."

"Oh, I see. Well then, please tell him that I called, Shindou-san. Thank you. Oh! And congratulations on the release of your third album."

"A-ah! Th-thanks!!!"

::Click::

Shuichi returned the phone in its cradle. He paused for a while, then shrugged off what had just happened. He sat down on the sofa once more, trying to wonder whether his third album would sell as good as his last two albums.

"I wonder if they liked that rock version of the other songs..." He asked himself.

Just then, he heard the click of the door. He immediately stood up. He saw Yuki, walking into the living room, carrying Cliff.

"Y-yuki!!!" he screamed, his eyes showing his joy. "where were you?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" Yuki coldly answered, putting the baby down on the sofa.

"Oh..." Shuichi looked sadly, "You see... I felt so awful yesterday that--"

"That you just left me here to worry?"

"N-NO!!!" Shuichi shook his head, "...were you... worried?"

Yuki gave no answer.

"uh... anyway... Yuki... I just wanted to tell you that my new album has been released and if it pays enough... I'm planning to do what it takes to find Cliff's mother."

"Hn?" Yuki had a slight look of concern on his face.

"You see, Yuki... I realized that Cliff can't stay with us. I know you tried to tell me but--"

"Oh... so you're tired of him now?"

Shuichi shook his head, "It's just that--"

"Well then..." Yuki interrupted. "It's your turn to take care of him now. I have to finish my novel... and if you're wondering where I went... I went to the publisher."

"Y-Yuki!" Shuichi held out his hand to Yuki, who had his back turned and walked away.

Yuki paused, then said something that left Shuichi in disbelief.

"It's almost over." 

Then he walked to his room, leaving Shuichi to hear the audibility of the door shutting and the continuation of Yuki's typing on his computer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi woke up to the sound of crying. He looked at the clock. 

"2 AM?" He rubbed his eyes as he yawned. He got up and did his best to mix the milk solution as fast as he could so that he could go to sleep once more. 

Cliff happily received the milk bottle and soon dozed off once more. It was very peaceful but, Shuichi suddenly felt like he couldn't sleep again. He had dozed off only an hour earlier, trying to shrug off what Yuki had vaguely said. And now, he seemed to find himself thinking about the statement once more.

"It's almost over." Yuki's cold voice echoed in his head.

"What is, Yuki?" Shuichi whimpered, "This problem? The novel? My album?... but my album's done already... or were you referring to US?" 

Shuichi placed his hands under his head, supporting it as if the thoughts were affecting its weight as well. He sighed as he thought whether Yuki could probably have been talking about them. 

"Why does he have to be this vague sometimes?" He thought then pouted. 

Shuichi tossed and turned, and finally rested on his left, where he fixed his gaze upon Cliff.

"How could it end?" He said in a soft tone. "Can you tell me why?"

He knew that no answer could be given by this slumbering child, but deep within him, he felt comfortable just knowing that he was able to tell someone-- even if he was but a child. 

Shuichi slowly closed his eyes, succumbing to the darkness and the depth of his thoughts...

"How could it end?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::The next day::

Yuki groaned as he got raised his head. He had fallen asleep in front of his laptop again. He stared at the myriad of useless letter combinations onscreen. 

He got up, then went to the bathroom to wash himself up. As he wiped his face with the soft towel, he suddenly realized something peculiar...

"This towel... smells like spring morning..." He mumbled. 

He quickly stepped out of his room, almost slipping. It was a good thing that he held on to the door handle. He realized the spotless wooden floors, all nice and shiny. He walked slowly, looking around the house in amazement. Everything was in order, all so clean and fresh-smelling. 

The scent of bacon caught his nose. He followed the trail- to the kitchen. He stopped as he stood by the doors. He saw a brown-haired girl in an apron and Cliff, sitting happily in his chair while eating pancakes. 

"w-what... who are you?" Yuki said, slightly irate.

The girl turned around. It was Shuichi.

"Ohayo YUKI!!!" He greeted joyfully. 

"Sh-shuichi?!" Yuki stammered.

"You like?" Shuichi patted the skirt of his maid uniform, "I dyed my hair brown again, since it really was the original color. Hehe!" 

"What the heck? What's wrong with you Shuichi?" Yuki shot back, starting to get confused with what he saw before him.

"Things need to get straightened out in this house!" Shuichi cheerfully smiled. "Now that there's a baby and all, we need to have it child-proofed!!!" Shuichi lectured as he held up a magazine.

Yuki walked towards him and read the magazine's name, "Mothers Monthly..."

"There's nothing else that we can do but give Cliff the best that we can offer!"

Yuki turned to the page where there was a paperclip, "There's nothing you can do but give your child the best that you can offer..." He mumbled.

"DAMMIT SHUICHI!" Yuki bonked the magazine on Shuichi's head.

"Ow!!!" Shuichi cried, as he rubbed his head. He whimpered as he did.

"Yuki... that hurt..." He whined. 

"Shuichi..." Yuki closed his eyes, and gave out a stern look on his face, "You don't need to pretend to be what you're not..."

"But..."

"Even if Cliff is staying with us, you can never take the place of his mother. Don't pretend to be a woman!"

Shuichi's eyes started to fill with tears. "But... but I thought..."

"Damn... Shuichi... you never think... you always act! Why can't you just be yourself?! You can't be what everybody always wants."

"Y-yuki..." Shuichi choked as the tears started to fall. Yuki only looked at him.

Shuichi pushed Yuki aside, and ran, slamming the door behind him.

Author's Note: OMG!!! I'm so sorry I took so long to update. And this chapter isn't very long either! *scratches head*. So sorry everyone! I'm working on this fic as much as I can, but I really want it to have a nice ending that everyone will understand completely... without having to mess with any of the characters' attitudes. There's nothing worse in a fic than an OOC, right? (er... maybe for me ^_^;;)

Oh yes, I really want to thank those who supported me by reviewing the past chapter! You really gave me the motivation to at least continue. :D Thanks especially to: Yume no Usagi, iloveAkira, Ban's lover named 'Pia' (*winks*), CharlieTheOtakuNymph, noali, Dead Insomniac (Thanks for the kuma cookie!!! *glomps*), and Zaphi!!! Arigatouuuu!!! *bows silmultaneously like Sakano*


	5. Can You Hear Me?

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation... although I wish I did. I only own one character in this story, and it is obviously-- Cliff. Thank you! ^_^

Chapter 5: Can you Hear Me?

Shuichi ran as fast as his feet could. His eyes were clouding his vision, but at the moment, he couldn't care less. 

He whimpered at how awful it was to see this scene playing again. He could still remember the other time he ran out, after Yuki said something that he just couldn't take. 

"How could he... how could he?" Shuichi bit his lip as he blinked and rubbed his eyes.

Shuichi suddenly bumped against something, which set him falling backward. He uttered a small cry, and looked up through his cloudy vision. 

"Shu-chan?" He heard a familiar, childish voice call out with concern.

Shuichi saw Ryuichi, who was looking down at him, his eyes showing sadness. Shu wiped his face, trying to hide that he was crying, although he knew that Ryuichi already saw that.

"Shu-chan..." Ryu said sadly as he offered his hand to pull him up. Shuichi carefully placed his hand on Ryu's and got himself to stand up. He patted his maid uniform and feigned a big smile. 

"Shu chan... what happened to you... to your hair???" Ryuichi said sadly.

Shuichi drifted into a frown once more and then ran his hand through his hair. "Oh this... ehe... I just wanted it back to my real hair color." Shuichi forced another smile.

"Shu-chan..." Ryuichi said once more, his tone still sad. He knew why Shuichi was like that. "Yuki did something again, didn't he? I liked your beautiful red hair..." Ryu whined like a lost child.

"Yes... Ryu chan... Yuki did something." Shuichi mumbled as he bowed his head. "But I'm okay now! Ehehe!" Shuichi raised his head and forced another plastic smile. 

"Come Shu-chan, let's go with Kumagoro and forget all those nasty thingiesss! There's a new ice cream parlor I heard about." Ryuichi said happily as he tugged onto Shuichi's arm. 

"Mmm!" Shu nodded, "I would like that, Ryu-sama!"

"But... Shu chan." Ryuichi laughed cheerfully as he spoke.

"Eh?"

"I think you should change your clothes." Ryu tugged on Shuichi's skirt. 

"Ah... ahahahahhaaaa..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuki stared blankly at the TV screen. He had an unlighted cigarette in his mouth once more. Cliff was happily resting beside him, clapping and laughing at the puppets whacking each other on television.

Yuki pressed the button of the remote control and changed the channel to another cartoon. Cliff stopped clapping and then slowly broke out into a cry. 

"That show was unhealthy.. you won't learn anything from hitting someone on the head.... so stop crying." Yuki said coldly.

He kept pressing the channel button, hoping to find a more wholesome children's entertainment show; he wanted the ringing in his ears to finally end. Cliff kept on crying.

Yuki then stopped-- he was about to press the button but then he saw the flash of red on the screen that somehow paralyzed him from moving.

It was the Music channel... and it was Bad Luck's latest song.  


_"Stop giving that cold look_

_I know you have something to sayyyyyyy_

_Don't keep it from meeeeee~~!!!_

_Just try me oh yeahhhh!!!_

_hey hey heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"_

Yuki didn't notice that he was already lost in the melody, the tune, the lyrics, and at looking at the singer he knew all too well. He sunk deeper into the enchantment and didn't even know it.

He watched as Shuichi smiled coyingly and sang with all his might, creating dance steps that made him look even more stupid than usual. He realized how much he missed Shuichi.

Yuki suddenly woke up as he heard Cliff laughing and clapping at the video. It was no surprise, since he knew Shuichi and the video made him look even more entertaining than those pointless puppets hitting each other.

The video ended with its final tune, with Shuichi hitting the note and then giving his thumbs up as the final drumbeat led the video into a pitch black... and then it was done. 

Cliff stopped clapping, his face into a questioning expression. It didn't take long for his expression to turn to a frown and for him to start crying again.

"You miss him too, huh, Cliff?" Yuki said, his face still blank. 

Cliff slowly whimpered, as if to pause to give Yuki an assurance that he was right. Cliff's sobs lessened as he blinked and then just frowned; it seemed that he had grown tired as well of crying... and then the room was quiet. Yuki felt even more lonely just looking at Cliff.

The silence ended with the sudden ringing of the phone. 

Yuki got up, irate once again, as if he was reminded to be the irritable and cold-hearted person he was supposed to be. He picked up the receiver and gave out a cold, "What?"

"Oh, Eiri-san! I thought I would have missed you again." A soft voice answered.

"Tohma..." Yuki said with no interest.

"Eiri-san, I just want to remind you about this afternoon. I hope you haven't forgotten."

"Yeah, I haven't."

"Hmmm. Eiri-san, you sound awful... is there anything wrong?"

"I had no idea you could tell..." Yuki said, somewhat surprised, then regained his calm composure, "It's nothing... just something between me and Shuichi."

"Oh, I see." Tohma gave a soft chuckle.

"Tohma... are you sure?"

"About what, Eiri-san?"

"All this... about Cliff.... about everything."

"Eiri-san." Tohma said with sympathy, "you know I never act unless I know it's going to turn out right."

"I know..."

"You don't sound very convinced." Tohma said happily.

"Don't mind it. Anyway, my novel is done. I have to go and send it to the publisher already."

"Oh. Okay Eiri-san. I hope you keep your word for this afternoon's event. Bye." Tohma said cheerfully.

The endless beeping rung in Yuki's ears. He then slowly returned the phone into its cradle. He paused, just standing, his hand rested upon the table where the phone was. 

He looked up and just stared blankly at something he didn't notice until then-- a smiley-face mug that belonged to Shuichi.

Shaking his head, Yuki awoke himself from the daydream and then turned towards Cliff, who also had a puzzled look on his face as he looked back at him. 

Yuki carried him, then paused a while and looked into his brown eyes and his fluffy brown hair. He then said calmly, "So, Cliff... It seems we'll be going out... and you'll be meeting Uncle Tohma again." And Yuki went to get his portfolio, still carrying Cliff with his other arm and then headed out to the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Shuichi sat happily in front of Ryuichi, who had Kumagoro beside him and wearing his special "ice cream bib" that had all pictures of ice cream cones on it.

Ryuichi couldn't help but smile at seeing his friend happy again. 

"You know, Shu chan... I heard that they have the special 'tummy-filler choco-wocko strawberry-werry banana split blast' in this shop..." Ryu said it as if it was a crime to mention it out loud.

"R-really?!" Shuichi's eyes lit up.

"Hai!!!" Ryuichi nodded and smiled with his cat-like smile as his cheeks blushed with two, round, soft-pink circles.

"Hontoniii?! Ryu... i have a plan!!!" Shuichi said silently, a devious sheen evident in his eyes. 

(* hontoni= really?)

"Wha... wha???" Ryu answered back, leaning closer to his friend across him.

"First... we get ready with our special ice cream bibs... and then..."

"uh-huh..." Ryu nodded, and leaned closer as he waited for the next thing Shuichi could say

"WE ORDER TWO OF THE TUMMY-FILLER CHOCO-WOCKO STRAWBERRY-WERRY BANANA SPLIT BLASTTTT!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!" Shuichi laughed like a villain from a stereotypical fantasy movie who was about to achieve his dreams of world domination.

"HAIIII!!!" Ryuichi nodded as he raised his hand, and the waiter approached them, with a slight hesitation.

After placing their orders and the waiter walking away nervously from the both of them, Shuichi and Ryuichi smiled once again at each other, like two children who just opened their birthday present. Then, as if it was scripted, they placed their hand in their pocket and then pulled out a cloth with ice cream designs on it and then tied it loosely around their neck at the same time, their smile as if it was drawn permanently onto their faces. 

The waiter didn't take long at all; he soon returned with bowls both on two different trays, one on each hand, each the size of half a bowling ball. It glowed with sparklers as he set it down in front of the two who were licking their lips impatiently. There were about three layers of chocolate and strawberry ice cream; banana slices overflowed at the side, adding horn-like structures at the side of the dish. And to top it all off-- a cherry placed at the scoop at the very top, cream supporting it like an egg in a nest.

"Itadekimasuuu!!!" They screamed happily and in synch. Shuichi lifted his spoon and smiled, immediately tasting the sparkler-filled treat. Ryuichi, on the other hand, took no other concern but to seize the red cherry that sat atop the dessert. Shuichi took note of it and then said, "Ryu, you want my cherry?" (*itadekimasu= let's eat; an invitation to start the meal)

Ryuichi's eyes shone like stars and the smiled from ear to ear, "Really, Shu-chan???"

Shuichi nodded and spooned the cherry into Ryuichi's bowl. Ryuichi picked it up by the stem and savored it, smiling as the stem stuck out from his mouth. He couldn't be happier.

A few minutes later, as the sparklers finally died out and the bowl was now empty, except for a chocolate -and-strawberry-stained spoon, the two sat back, sighing with contentment. 

"Ryu-chan... I owe you one again..." Shuichi said sincerely as he opened his eyes.

"Hahaha! It's nothing, Shu-chan!" Ryu smiled, letting Kumagoro wave for him. "Just give me one of your latest CD's!"

The two chuckled happily.

"Excuse me," They heard a voice say. They looked up and saw a girl in school uniform, accompanied by a few other girls, some in uniform and others in casual clothes.

"Aren't you two Ryuichi and Shuichi-kun?" She asked shyly.

"Yes, we are!" Shuichi said, smiling. 

Ryuichi looked at Shuichi with horror.

"AIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screams filled the shop as Ryuichi and Shuichi suddenly found themselves crushed by a waterfall of young girls who pulled and tugged and asked for autographs and questions like why Shuichi had his hair dyed brown.

"Hey hey! Not in my shop!!!" The manager screamed and then found himself knocked out cold by the stampede as Shuichi and Ryuichi sped out of the parlor. 

"Shu-kun..." Ryu gasped for breath as he ran alongside Shuichi, "The first rule in going out in public is to wear sunglasses... but since I forgot that... huff huff... we should have followed rule two... huff huff... which is, 'Never say you are who you are'."

"I'm so sorry, Ryu-kunnn!!!" Shuichi screamed as he ran as fast as he could. 

The two glanced over their shoulders and still found the mob following them... and actually... GROWING BIGGER.

"Over here!" Ryu suddenly grabbed Shuichi as they turned at a sharp corner.

"They're getting away!!!" One of the fans screamed and the mob immediately gained speed and turned at the corner. They suddenly slowed down and stopped.

"Where'd they go?"

No one was at the street, and it look deserted, save a few cars that passed.

Everyone groaned and then went away, disappointed that they couldn't have gotten anything from their idols. 

As soon as the street was once more deserted...

"Is it clear?" a voice whispered.

"Yeah." the other answered.

The mailbox started hopping.

"Shu-kun, I had no idea you could bring these costumes with you... TEACH ME HOW!!!" the oversized battery hopped as well.

"Haha! Sure, Ryu-kun!!! But teach me some of those rules... I think I need to learn those too."

And the mailbox and battery hopped down the street, supporting each other by resting their arms around each other's waist as they did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A-a-AACHOOOOOO!!!" Sakano sneezed and then lightly scratched his nose.

"Bless you, Sakano-san." Hiro answered, smiling.

"Thanks..." Sakano answered wearily.

"I wonder where Shuichi-kun is..." Fujisaki thought loudly.

"Don't worry," K said in his low tone, "If he doesn't come, I'll take care of it! Ohohohooo!" K chuckled as he held up his magnum.

"Ahhh, K-san..." Sakano said nervously, "I don't think Shu kun will need that... heheee..." A sweatdrop formed on the back of his head.

"This is his day, after all! We need to congratulate him on the album." Hiro added, trying to show that he wasn't nervous about the magnum.

"Oh... okay then." K returned his magnum, frowning with disappointment, and heard everyone sigh with relief.

"It's so nice to see that we've topped the charts in no less than 3 weeks!" He t smiled proudly, then held out the folder that bore the graph showed the number of albums they've sold so far.

"one...one m-million?!?!?!!!" Sakano smiled dreamily and then fainted again.

"W-O-W..." Hiro stared in amazement.

"This is even better than the last album!" Fujisaki added, still staring at the figures.

"We have Shuichi's rock versions to thank!... oh and Cliff too!!! Ohohohohooooo!!!" K laughed triumphantly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi and Ryuichi stopped at the park for a while and rested. The hopping took a lot of energy.

"Hahaha! This was fun, wasn't it, Shu-kun?" Ryuichi smiled as he slowly took off his battery costume.

Shuichi nodded and slowly undid his mailbox costume as well.

They sat on the grass and just lay there... waiting for nothing, wanting nothing and looking for nothing... just them... looking up at the sky.

They took in deep breaths, still tired from all the running that just took place. And diverted their thoughts to the clouds; they tried to distinguish the different figures that floated by.

"Hey Shu-chan! Look, it's Kumagoro!!!" Ryuichi pointed at a round cumulus cloud.

"Oooo! Haha, that one looks like Yuki's laptop!" Shuichi pointed.

Ryuichi kept silent and looked up, trying to distinguish what Shuichi was pointing at.

"And that one looks like Cliff's bottle!" Shuichi pointed in another direction.

"Ah... hehe..." Ryuichi bluntly agreed. 

"Ne, Shuichi-san!" Ryu suddenly interrupted, "Look at those! They look like balloons!"

"Hai, hai!!!" Shuichi nodded.

"Balloons..." Ryuichi asked himself, as if he had forgotten something. "AH! Shu-san!!! What time is it?!"

Shuichi looked at his watch, "It's 4:00."

Ryuichi got up and held out his hand to Shuichi.

"Shuichi-kun!!!" He said, panicking, "I have to show you something!!! Let's go!"

"Huh?" Shuichi asked, then stood up with the aid of Ryuichi's pull.

Then Ryuichi jogged and Shuichi followed, still wondering what Ryuichi could have possibly been talking about. 

Soon, they went down the familiar road, and then came to a stop.

"Ah? Ryu??" Shuichi looked up at the familiar building, "Why are we at the recording station?"

"Come, Shu-chan! You're late!" Ryu smiled widely.

They entered the building, now more relaxed. But Shuichi was still wondering why Ryuichi suddenly wanted to show him something at the recording studio. Then suddenly, and idea hit him, "Maybe he wants to show me his latest work!!!" Shuichi thought to himself. 

Ryuichi led Shuichi to the office, then stopped at the door. 

"I don't have the keys, Shu-kun." He smiled.

"Oh!" Shuichi fumbled through his bag. He pulled out a set of keys and then opened the door.

"SURPRISEEE!!!!!" voices screamed as Shuichi found himself covered with confetti and balloons.

"M-minna..." Shuichi stuttered in his bewilderment. (*minna = everyone)

Shuichi looked again at Ryuichi, who held up Kumagoro and was making a clapping gesture. "Surprise, Shuichi-sann!!! hehehe!"

Shuichi's mouth was left ajar. It was, indeed, a surprise. He walked into the room, and saw everyone, Hiro, K, Fujisaki, Sakano, Ryuichi, Noriko...

"W-wow! W-why???" Shuichi stuttered as Hiro welcomed him with a pat on the back.

"Why?" K repeated. "Don't you know how many records we've sold?! OhohohooooO! Shuichi-kun, you're a hit!!!"

"I...I am? ...I AM??!! I AM!!! WAHAHAHAAA!" Shuichi guffawed with pride. 

"Ne, Shuichi-san... there's something we want to tell you as well..." Fujisaki interrupted. 

Suddenly, Shuichi turned his head towards Tohma, whom he hadn't noticed until Fujisaki gestured towards him. Tohma was smiling, walking slowly towards Shuichi. Shuichi gasped also at one more thing...

Tohma was carrying Cliff.

"W-what's Cliff doing here?" Shuichi asked nervously.

Hiro gave out a big smile, "Congratulations, Shuichi!!!"

"I-I don't understand." Shuichi looked up at Hiro and then diverted his gaze towards Tohma. 

"I know Cliff's mother." Tohma answered, smiling. 

"H-huh?! What's going on?" Shuichi asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"You see Shu-san..." K answered, "Cliff was the start of your life story... You have become a hit Shuichi... but not simply because of your latest album but because..." K handed a magazine to Shuichi.

"WHAT???" Shuichi asked as he looked down at the magazine in his hands, "Ever Lasting Love... Follow the tale of two lovers as they live their day to day experiences... Will love prevail? Next week's episode: A Child in the Midst... what will happen? Stay tuned!..." Shuichi read out loud, his eyebrows meeting.

"Your show's rating have boosted ever since Cliff came along." K smiled widely as Shuichi slowly looked up at him once more.

"WHAT??? W-wait... how did you guys take all those..." Shuichi stuttered.

"Yuki's security camera..." Tohma smiled.

"So..." Shuichi was still wide-eyed, and he didn't know what to ask first, "Ah... so.. Cliff... and ... Yuki... and everything... ah... and the door... and Ryuichi... and..." Shuichi's eyes were in a swirl.

Tohma shook his head, "Not to worry, Shindou-san... The cameras were limited only to Yuki's apartment and to the recording station."

"And after the release of the third album... the last episode was shown yesterday. Of course, we had to explain that you found Cilff's mother and all..." K smiled.

"W-wait..." Shuichi looked up, "Who is Cliff's mother?"

"A distant cousin of mine," Tohma nodded softly, "She agreed to let you 'babysit' and at the same time, I gave her a generous amount of money to assure her that Cliff will be in good hands. Don't worry, Cliff will be returning to his mother by tomorrow."

Cliff smiled cheerfully as he played with Tohma's hat. 

"So... this was all... a play?" Shuichi asked, his eyes still in a daze, "So Yuki..."

Tohma simply nodded. "He knew."

"I... I see..." Shuichi bowed his head.

There was a moment of silence as everybody realized that Shuichi was hurt. They really didn't know why exactly, but they felt somewhat guilty- that Shuichi felt deceived. And also because he was going to say goodbye to Cliff all at once, all so suddenly.

Hiro broke the silence by giving Shuichi a soft pat in the back. "Come on, Shuichi... this is your party. Let's enjoy it... Although things turned out this way." He gave off a vague smile. 

Shuichi looked up at Hiro. Indeed he felt deceived, even by his own friend. But he tried to shake it away. He shrugged and forced a smile... and then he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" 

Hiro was startled, and unconsciously dropped his hand from Shu's shoulder.

Nobody could answer... but K replied, "Because the show wouldn't be the same if you knew about it."

Shuichi bowed his head, clenched his hands and started to shake. 

"Shuichi..." Hiro said softly as he slowly placed his hand once more on Shuichi's shoulder. Shuichi slapped it away.

"So... this was all about ratings?!" He looked up, his eyes teary and full of rage, "You guys didn't even care about my feelings? WHY?! Was my album that bad that we needed to show the entire world of media my life?! Didn't you guys even stop to think how I felt?! You think it's easy to accept the fact that I was hurt and then everybody saw it on their TV?! What happened to my privacy?!! Tell me WHY!!!"

"Shuichi..." Hiro looked at him, feeling guilt starting to eat him up. 

Nobody could answer, and as soon as Shuichi knew that no one could give him the answer, he turned his back, where he saw Ryuchi sadly looking at him as he stood by the doorway. Shuichi walked, making his way out, but then paused as he stood in front of Ryuichi.

"Thanks, Ryu-san..." He said, looking into Ryuichi's sad amethyst eyes, and then walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuki sat at his desk, simply resting and facing upward, staring at the cream-colored ceiling. He lit a cigarette, and was savoring the vice he had been prohibited from ever since Cliff came. 

He closed his eyes, and found himself thinking of Shuichi once more.

"Why cant you just be yourself?!" He saw himself screaming at Shuichi, the event replaying once more in his head.

"What's wrong with You?!" He recalled saying at Shuichi, who then had tear-filled eyes that stared right back at him.

Yuki opened his eyes once more. He stared blankly at the ceiling, just sitting there as inanimate as anyone could be. 

"What IS wrong with me?" He thought to himself, "Shuichi... all he did was try to adapt... He wanted to be a mother... to help... despite what I did..."

Yuki lifted his feet off the table then placed them on the floor. He sat more comfortably, his gaze now diverted towards the bed where Cliff used to slumber.

"I never knew how he felt... I never tried to understand. And I never showed it... Why... why did I have to do that?" He continued to ask.

"Why couldn't I tell him anything?..."

Yuki woke up from his thoughts as he suddenly heard the front door slam. Startled, he stood up and rushed out to open his door, wanting to see who it could be.

He opened his door, only to find Shuichi standing in front of him, gasping for air, his eyes evident of anger, and his fists clenched tightly.

It was like the day he ran in front of his car... the first day they met...

"Shuichi?" Yuki asked, maintaining his vague expression.

"Don't give me that look!" Shuichi screamed, "How could you not tell me?!" Shuichi blinked, tears starting to sting his eyes. He held them back.

Yuki paused, and had a momentary expression of sadness as he looked at Shuichi.

"How... how could you do this to me?" Shuichi asked once again, his voice starting to crack, and his tears starting to flow.

"Shuichi... I...I..." Yuki tried to explain, but didn't know where to start; how to start. He couldn't stand seeing Shuichi like this. Although he got used to seeing Shuichi crying like a baby, he couldn't help feeling guilty because he knew that this time... he was the reason for Shuichi's tears. He frowned and bit into his cigarette.

"Yuki... Why didn't you tell me about Cliff? Why did you agree to show the world our personal lives, just like that? How could you?" Shuichi continued to ask, his tears now flowing endlessly. 

"I... don't know." Yuki looked away.

"You... Don't know?" Shuichi repeated, raising his tone. He bit his lip. Bowed his head a moment then looked up once more, staring at Yuki with rage.

"Yuki, you're a renowned writer... you've written all types of novels... you've explained everything... you're smart... and have enough wits to correct me every time you said my lyrics sucked... and now... YOU DON'T KNOW?"

There was a pause.

"Yes... I don't know." Yuki answered, now closing his eyes.

Shuichi couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stood there, staring at his lover's expression, as his mouth hung ajar and hot tears flowed down his cheeks. He frowned and his eyebrows slanted, the rage being overcome by sadness...

In a sudden turn, Shuichi ran, leaving Yuki to hear the door slam as he left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi closed his eyes as he continued to cry. He kept on running, as fast as his feet could take him. He headed to the one place he knew he could be alone-- the park.

He ran, not caring who would see him, not caring if he bumped into a familiar face once more. All he knew that whatever happened, he'd just continue running... running till he reached his place of solitude.

He opened his eyes, rubbing away his tears with his sore fist. He saw that the park was not too far away. And once he got there, he sat under the lone tree... away from everybody else.

He cried. Silently, yet endlessly. He felt his eyes burn, and it hurt, until he felt that he could cry no more. He couldn't stop crying every time the image of Yuki replayed in his head.

"I don't know." Yuki's cold voice repeated in his head.

Shuichi hugged his legs, and hid his face. He drowned himself in his thoughts. He couldn't believe how everybody was playing him... playing with his feelings. Ryuichi... Hiro... and Yuki... the three people who mattered a lot to him. 

He cried though no tears would come out. 

Shuichi lost track of time, and the next time he looked up, he saw the lamp posts lit, and the stars filling the midnight sky. 

He gazed up for a while, feeling calm and at peace even for just a moment. And then looked down once more, and sniffled as he saw his tear-stained clothes. 

He looked at his hands, there were a few scratches; he clenched his fist so tight that he hadn't noticed he had wounded himself. He finally felt the itchiness of the scratches.

Shuichi lay down his hands, and rested his back upon the tree that he sat under. He gazed up at the sky, looking blankly as if nothing mattered anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuki tried to type on his laptop, he couldn't help erasing all the nonsense that he wrote. He couldn't stomach the trash he was writing; he wasn't any good.

Frustrated, he rested his head on his hands, rubbing his aching forehead as he did. He took off his glasses, and then pushed himself back and got up from his chair. 

He headed out of the room, walking through the hall and going straight to the kitchen. He reached the refrigerator door and hastily opened it to see its contents. He slammed the door shut once again.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" He cursed to himself.

Yuki went to the living room, sitting down on his couch and then turning the TV on. Another sheen of red-- it was an old Bad Luck music video.

Yuki grit his teeth and immediately changed the channel. 

He stopped on the news channel, finally finding that he could relax as he saw and heard the other problems around the world. Seeing other people having their own problems made him feel better.

"And now, to the Entertainment section," The reporter said happily.

Yuki paused and frowned as he saw Shuichi and his picture, with the large and colorful captions, Ever Lasting Love, under it.

"The latest show, Ever Lasting Love, has finally come to an end." The reporter said, disappointed, "The Last episode concluded with the cute child, Cliff, finally being returned to his mother. Ratings on this show have shot up with more than 20% in the past two weeks as the two lovers had their arguments, but then ended up together happily once more--"

Yuki shut off the TV. He stared at his reflection on the ebony-colored screen. He frowned.

"Happily ever after, huh?" He murmured to himself. "The media is always so good with making up stories..."

Yuki kept silent, and for some strange reason-- instinct, maybe-- he looked up and faced at the table that had the phone rested on it, and saw Shuichi's mug once more. Yuki's eyes softened, "Shuichi..." He mumbled as he remembered the times he saw Shuichi cry.

"I always made him cry... and he always came back... He was the reason why we're still together... he and his persistence..." Yuki thought.

"Why would he love someone like me? Someone who never showed his true feelings? How could he even get used to someone like me-- a murderer... I don't deserve him... But... He always did come back and set things right... He..."

Yuki paused. He blinked slowly.

Yuki immediately got up, and headed for his room. He got his overcoat and put it on. He headed for the front door, twisted the knob and pulled it. "I'm not going to take this crap anymore..." He said as he frowned once more, and then shut the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuichi felt his legs going numb, but he continued to stare silently at the ground in front of him. 

His eyes showed nothing but sadness; He couldn't hide his emotions anymore. There wasn't a hint of anger, of pain, more so of happiness... just pure melancholy.

Shuichi rocked himself, still holding onto his knees. He continued to think about what had just happened. He wiped his face once more with his wounded hands. 

Shuichi decided to get up... He stumbled like a drunkard, but eventually got up with the help of the tree.

He looked up once more at the sky as he kept his hand rested on the trunk of the large, lonely Sakura tree. His eyes showed no emotion now, and his mouth was kept ajar. He resembled a lost child.

Shuichi walked slowly. He took slow steps as he slowly found his way to the concrete path. he dragged his feet. He had nothing on his mind now... but Yuki.

He still couldn't grasp anything. And though he wanted to make things better-- like he always did-- he couldn't think of anything to do since this time; he was the one deceived. He was the one hurt, and he had no idea how or why he would atone for the hurt he went through.

He wished he could talk to Yuki, and tell him that he finally knew the answer, but he thought that it would be impossible since... He couldn't think of the reason why they did that to him... especially Yuki.

He knew that everyone wanted higher ratings... but he still didn't consider it a reason to make him go through what he did... especially all the things he felt about Yuki; Yuki knew what he was doing and never told him.

Shuichi paused. He looked up and realized that he was walking on the memorable path-- the day they first met.

"You have zero talent..." Yuki's voice played in his mind.

Shuichi looked on sadly, just standing there like a statue.

"Shuichi.." Yuki's voice played in his mind.

"You called me by my name!!! I'm so happy!" Shuichi saw himself as the event replayed.

"He called me by my name... how many times?" Shuichi mumbled to himself.

He gazed at the pavement, still statuesque.

"Shuichi!" Yuki's voice replayed once more.

"Shuichi..." It repeated.

"SHUICHI!!!" It sounded so real. Shuichi turned around, and saw Yuki... running towards him.

"Y-Yuki??" Shuichi said softly, his eyes still swollen, but forcing them to open wide with his surprise.

Shuichi watched as Yuki ran towards him. He blinked. It must be a dream.

Yuki came closer.

"It isn't a dream!" Shuichi thought.

Yuki stopped in front of Shuichi, gasping for air and tired from running. It was the first time that Shuichi saw him like that. He just gazed at Yuki, whose eyes were soft and sad. Shuichi felt the same, just looking at him.

"Shuichi..." Yuki repeated, resting his hands softly on Shuichi's shoulders.

"T-tohma..." Yuki said in between breaths, and slowly stabilized his breathing, "Tohma... asked me to help you. He thought that Cliff... and the show... would be our break."

Shuichi looked on, Yuki looked so much like his brother. He never thought that he would see Yuki like that.

"I admit it... Shu... your records sold... my novel is finished... and I won't deny that I liked Cliff... And I won't lie that I knew you were hurt. But until the show was done, I couldn't..." Yuki paused, looking more melancholy.

"You couldn't...what?" Shuichi said softly, his voice still raspy from the crying.

"I couldn't do... what I thought was right. I couldn't make you happy... I know it's my fault... and I'm guilty as hell... that's why... I... I don't know why I did it. That's why I can't answer... That's why... I... don't know..."

Shuichi's eyes filled with tears.

"Shuichi... I... I'm... I'm sorry..." Yuki blinked slowly and bowed his head; Shuichi saw that he was teary-eyed as well, but fought it back.

Shuichi smiled softly, and hugged Yuki, burying his face into Yuki's chest.

"I'm...sorry..." Yuki said once more as he held Shuichi.

"Shhh..." Shuichi said softly. In the silence he knew that Yuki didn't hold back the tears any more.

+++Epilogue+++

Shuichi and Yuki walked home. They were silent, but they knew that they had gained each other's trust once again. And that's all that seemed to matter.

As soon as Yuki got in the apartment, Shuichi looked up. Yuki noticed Shuichi's search.

"Don't worry, the cameras are gone." Yuki said reassuringly. "I took them all out yesterday."

Shuichi smiled back at Yuki.

They both sat down beside each other on the couch. Shuichi rested his head on Yuki's chest.

The silence was peaceful, and Shuichi felt like he could stay that way forever. But something bothered him. Shuichi looked up, concerned, and saw Yuki, tears flowing from his cheeks once more. Though he was crying, Yuki still kept his blank expression.

"Yuki... " Shuichi said with concern. He diverted his gaze towards the stuffed toy that lay on the table. He knew why Yuki was feeling that way, and he felt sadness as well.

"You're crying again, Yuki... You really miss Cliff..." Shuichi said sadly, hugging Yuki to comfort him.

"Yeah... I do miss Cliff." Yuki said bluntly as he wiped away the tears. "He may be the reason why I'm crying... but not the real reason."

"Huh?" Shuichi looked up with eyes questioning Yuki.

Yuki gazed into Shuichi's eyes. His cold stare had a magical aura, that seemed to melt as his eyes turned soft once more.

"I'm crying because... I hurt someone I cared for..."

"Yuki..."

No words could express Shuichi's feelings. He felt so overwhelmed just looking at Yuki. And now that he was finally showing his feelings, for once, and said how he felt... he couldn't explain the feeling-- knowing that you are special for someone, who you also cherish...

Shuichi smiled back, "Yuki, we've been apart longer than we thought." He gave out a soft giggle.

They both stared into each other's eyes, both drowning in the emotion they saw; both enchanted as they saw each other's soul.

Shuichi closed his eyes as Yuki drew closer, his breath and his heartbeat all that he could hear... His heartbeat beating in a synchronization with Yuki's...

And the lights slowly dimmed.

Author's Note:  AHHH! It's done!!! Whoo! Wow, I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update. I also had some babysitting to do... and all I can say is: Cliff is a very very behaved baby. ^_^;;

Oh! Thanks so much once more for those who reviewed the past chapter, and for this whole fic, for that matter. There is nothing more that cheers me up than to hear comments from those who actually read my work (I don't care if it's negative, I'm still happy) But thanks a lot, especially to: Baka Tenshi Neko-san (I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long ^_^;;), Heart of Garnet (Thanks for your encouragement! I really appreciated that :D), Dead Insomniac (Thanks for all the yummy cookies and the great comments! They brightened my day.), noali (thanks for telling me to update XD), Ban's lover named 'Pia" (hey Pia Ban chan!!! Ohohoooo! Sorry, you know me... I'm weak with NC-17 stuff), Mallet Weilder of Doom (Beware of the Mallet? Er, anyways, THANKKSSSS for your wonderful comment!)

Well then, now that it's finally done... I feel so accomplished but at the same time... kind of nostalgic. Oh well... *shrugs and eats another cookie*

Stay tuned for my next work!!! :D 


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